The Affable Entrepreneur Part Two
by DangerRanger5
Summary: Assassins, mistresses and blackmailers. All part of the package for Affable Mister Sparrow, local hero and businessman.


The Affable Entrepreneur

(Part Two)

by Michael Grainger

Mister Sparrow glanced up from the fellow at his feet, once a man full of life, but now looking wretched and small. Mister Sparrow took out a small but ornate pocket-watch he owned, and checked it. "The time seems to have gotten on, Mister Watts" he told me, and I sensed that it indeed must have been well past lunch time now. "I wonder if you wouldn't mind accompanying me to a private residence, where I have personal matters to attend to." I shook my head, still unable to do or say much else. "Good" he told me.

He started walking away and I lamely followed him, still staring back at the body. Just then I found my voice. "But what about the body?" I asked him. "Should we get the Town Guard, perhaps?"Mister Sparrow simply shook his head and shrugged.

"They know where to find me" he replied simply. "And I shall call on Sherriff Creed later, if they do not find me sooner. For now I've had enough of this business." And he set off again towards Old Town this time.

We passed through the still recovering district, once the den of thieves and criminals and the infamous Society. Mister Sparrow's power was never more noticeable than when he walked through Old Town for it was he who liberated them from the dreadful Society and from the Nickname on that awful night nearly three years ago.

We travelled down a number of streets through twists and turns until the flow of people ceased and we passed people who seemed not to notice us anymore. Finally we came to the end of a street which rested on a cliff and had a wide view of Castle Fairfax and the sprawl of the city below. There was a pleasant garden here, and at the end of the lane a large tree had been planted to give shade to a few benches set underneath it.

Mister Sparrow went to the last house on the left and passed through the gate. He went up to the front door, almost with a spring in his step and knocked quickly on the door. Almost immediately it opened slightly and a dark haired woman stared out at house. She was quite beautiful, but had a look about her which suggested a certain ingrained poverty from which she had never escaped, despite the obvious beauty and luxury of her house which was, to say the least, elegant.

Mister Sparrow took of his hat and bowed to her slightly. She smiled quickly at him but then her furtive green eyes came to rest jealously on me. "Who's this?"

"This is Mister Watts. He's a business associate" Mister Sparrow said.

"I've never seen him before" snapped the woman before I could so much as say 'how do you do?'

"Never mind that, Sam" said Mister Sparrow, looking gruff now. "Go back inside for a moment."

Though her steely gaze lingered on me a while longer, she retreated back within the house which seemed to be quite well fortified for privacy. Every curtain was drawn, and the neighbours seemed to be far off and distant here. Though I had a queer feeling about the whole affair, I nonetheless waited patiently for Mister Sparrow to speak.

"Look here, Mister Watts" he said to me, grinning affably. "Would you mind waiting here as a favour to me. I shan't be too long, but this is rather important and rather...private." The garden was pleasant and the fresh air seemed to be doing me well, so I agreed quickly and bid him a momentary farewell. He disappeared inside and I thought I heard the distinctive clicking of a lock.

I wandered about the garden for some time, pleased within the openness that this little retreat offered, outside of the cloying closeness that Bowerstone so readily provides. Moving out into the lane, I sat down in the shade of the tree for sometime before checking my watch. It was getting on now. I suddenly had a strange impulse and as if to confirm my heart's desire, my belly rumbled to remind me that I had, in fact, missed lunch and was still frightfully hungry.

On the way here I had stopped a pie stall not too far away and I supposed that I could quite easily nip down there and come back before Mister Sparrow was done. So quickly I trotted down and picked myself a steaming beef pie. Though quite sure I was being robbed by the vendor, I was not in the mood to waste time quarrelling about it and handed over my coin before rushing back.

Greedily I stuffed myself with the treat and was feeling much better when I heard noises from the door of the Sam's house. Quickly I moved back to the front yard and food Mister Sparrow just exiting. He closed the door behind him and looked decidedly happier than he had before the affair in the alleyway. But he was looking at his feet and as I approached he crouched low and found a letter at his feet.

He picked it up and showed it to me after glancing at it quickly himself. There was a single name scribbled on the front of it, no address or any other details. It read; "Mister Sparrow". And so Mister Sparrow opened it quickly with a slightly bemused look on his face. His affable front quickly dropped as he read the letter.

After some time staring silently at the parchment, he glanced up at me with what can only be described as a cold fury. "Who delivered this?" he asked me.

"I don't know. I was only away for a minute or two" I explained.

"I'm being blackmailed" he told me coldly. "Someone is blackmailing me."

"Who would dare?" I asked, outraged.

"Doesn't say. I'm apparently to meet a man named Kenneth under the bridge in the Market" he told me, not looking at me but staring, with a clenched jaw, out towards Fairfax Castle. The sun was beginning to set over the city, turning her to a radiant golden colour and setting fire to the rooftops over the sprawl. "I'll deal with this" he told me coldly, and he turned away.

We travelled quickly through the streets, Mister Sparrow walking with a large stride indicative of his steadfast purpose. Crossing the bridge, I became suddenly very uneasy and I noticed how Mister Sparrow seemed to be just about ready to brim over with a suppressed kind of rage.

We moved under the bridge to find a few abandoned shanties and crates. This side of Bowerstone River was not used for much, but had become a refuge of the homeless and downtrodden. Standing in the shadow of the bridge was a single solitary figure who seemed to stiffen when he saw us. "Wait here" Mister Sparrow told me, a growl in his voice. "Waylay any who attempt to approach until I am done." I agreed that I would, not sure of how exactly I would 'waylay' any one walking down the path, but unable to say anything else.

Mister Sparrow approached the thin looking fellow cautiously and spoke with him for a few moments. I glanced about and noted that we seemed to be completely alone. Mister Sparrow's conversation became heated and I could hear him shouting, though I did not hear the words. He pointed menacingly at Kenneth and the thin man seemed to shrink. Then I heard Kenneth shriek and he turned as if to walk away.

Mister Sparrow let him walk only a few paces before he drew a pistol from within his coat and levelled it at the man's head. The gun roared and the bullet struck Kenneth behind his left ear. He dropped with a dull thud but no other sound and lay in the dust, quite still. I was quite sure he was dead but was unable to look away until Mister Sparrow approached me and took me away.

We made our way back towards the Cow and Corset where Mister Sparrow and I sat in a sombre silence for some time, sipping at a whiskey as though bereft of any other options. I said nothing, and Mister Sparrow brooded for sometime before he spoke.

"Kenneth wasn't the blackmailer" he said suddenly, startling me out of my reverie. "He was just an accomplice. Just a lackey. The real threat is still out there."

"Perhaps he'll be too scared to make a move, now" I suggested, my voice oddly small and terrified. But Mister Sparrow did not seem convinced, and he fell into a deep silence for the rest of the night.

The End


End file.
